2014 WSOP Day 1: The Poker High School Reunion (UPDATE)

Picking up our credentials this year, WSOP Managing Editor Jess Welman informed us that this was our 10th–10TH–year covering the WSOP. Jumping Jehoshaphat! It feels like yesterday that The Entities Who Comprise Wicked Chops Poker were sidling up next to Dr. Pauly trying to figure out wtf was going on at the Rio amid a crush of fly-by-night media types.

The first day of the World Series of Poker is one of our favorite of the year. It’s like an annual high school reunion for the poker community. Everyone is there. Everyone is happy to see each other.

Good times, good vibe. Let’s hope it all carries over into the poker action for the next six weeks.

On that note, some brief updates.

:: Event #1 ($500 Casino Employees) – It appears as if there will be no Holloway EffectTM for the Casino Employees event. The total field is 876. Last year was 898.

There will be no repeat bracelet for Chad Holloway as he was eliminated. As was Ty Stewart, who started the day by launching a cannon full of 10,000 $1 bills into the Rio (not kidding). The only notable remaining is Dustin “Pockets” Iannotti.

:: Event #2 ($25,000 Mixed Max NLH) – This event kicked off at 4pm PT with around 65 entrants. All the usual suspects, including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and a freshly-tanned-back-from-Cannes JRB.

By the end of registration, 131 had taken a seat. First will pay $871,148. Vanessa Selbst, a woman who likes women, is the Day 1 chip leader. She’s closely followed by Brian Rast and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. The holy triumvirate of Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu are also alive.

On a final sad note, the São Paulo Cafe in the Rio made its way to the Epic Poker graveyard of extinction. No more french toast, blue cheese walnut salad, potato skins, or other legit stand-out items. In its place is the Hash House A Go-Go, with their over-sized portions of some really good food, actually. But for sentimental purposes, it’ll never be São Paulo Cafe.